Sempa et al. 2019 - A Retrospective audit of treatment outcomes, side-effect profiles and default and mortality rates of HIV/AIDS patients at the antiretroviral clinic at Pretoria Academic Hospital.

The comprehensive demographic and long-term treatment data of the first, consecutive, 963 patients older than 18 years of age who presented for ART at the Tshwane District Hospital in Gauteng, South Africa during 2004 and 2005 were selected for analysis. All patients started ART after 2004 as part of the South African national HIV treatment plan and were treated according to the National Department of Health HIV guidelines (2004) operative at the time, i.e. eligibility for ART was CD4 <200 cells/µL or WHO stage 4 disease regardless of CD4 count. Treatment was initiated using a standardized triple-drug regimen consisting of two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, mostly d4T and 3TC, and one non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, either NVP or EFV. CD4 and HIV-1 VL monitoring was performed at treatment initiation ‘baseline’ and then 6-monthly, according to the national protocol. Demographic, anthropometric, clinical, ART and 5-year longitudinal treatment response data were collected. Excluded all second-line ART visits for all patients who were switched to second-line therapy.